The Eggbaby
" }} "The Eggbaby" is the thirty-fourth episode of . In order to pass his Family Studies class, Terry must take care of a computerized Eggbaby. Dropping the Eggbaby means failure and he soon finds that there is no one else to take care of it. Unfortunately, this means taking the Eggbaby with him on missions as Batman, as he deals with a family of rogues. Plot A truck drives up to a large mansion just outside of Gotham. A trio of people gets out: two men (Carl and Slim) and a middle-aged woman. The three break into the house and convince the butler to show them where the safe is. After finding the safe, the group blows it open and the woman (the mother of the two younger men) sorts through the valuables and steals a ruby ring. All other items are shunned. The next day, Bruce calls up Terry and tells him about the robbery. Apparently, Ma Mayhem has been stealing ruby jewelry but for unknown reasons. However, before Terry can deal with it, he has to go to his Family Studies class, which he's failing. gets his assigned baby.]] In class, Miss Pinto assigns her students to take care of computerized Eggbabies. They are programmed to act and respond as real babies do, recording how well their "parents" are taking care of them and if they're dropped, it's an automatic fail. The project will make up half of their final grade, which the teacher pointedly notes, is crucial for Terry in particular. The class is randomly divided into mock couples. Dana is somewhat disappointed that she doesn't get Terry as her partner. Unfortunately for Terry, he's paired with Blade who's massively uninterested in the assignment; she has it for less than a minute then absentmindedly knocks the Eggbaby off her desk while filing her nails, and Terry is forced to catch it. In fact, that night while Terry is waiting for the Batmobile to pick him up from home to go off on his mission as Batman, Blade drops by, dumps the Eggbaby with him and leaves to go on a date with Jurgan. Unable to get rid of the Eggbaby, Terry takes it with him on his mission and spies Ma Mayhem and her family looking to steal ruby earrings. Unfortunately, the Eggbaby starts crying and alerts the thieves to his presence. One of the men, Carl is sent to take care of Batman and during the ensuing fight the Eggbaby is almost dropped. When Batman tries to save it, he's almost killed but manages to escape. But because of their advance warning, the gang escapes. Day comes and Terry takes care of his Eggbaby along with a few of his classmates. However, when Terry tries to give Blade the Eggbaby, she refuses to take it. That being the case, Terry still has to keep it when he goes to the Batcave. Bruce is annoyed about the Eggbaby but Terry's mother refused to take it because she said she's too young to be a grandma, and Matt abused it by shooting it with rubber bands. Bruce shuts down any possibility of taking care of the Eggbaby himself and only Ace is willing to spend time with it, making it laugh with friendly licks. Terry is forced to take it on another mission, but seeing as this was a strong possibility, he had given it a double feeding, changed its diaper and kept it awake the entire afternoon; he figures it will sleep for hours. After reaching the next location, the Museum of Fashion, Batman leaves the Eggbaby on an air conditioning unit and attacks the group. Unfortunately, they are ready for him and fight back. Batman manages to hold up his own against the group but in the end they manage to escape once again. However, things are even worse for Batman when he sees that the air conditioning unit was really the gang's truck in holographic disguise. They take off in it taking the Eggbaby along. Desperate not to fail Family Studies, Batman heads out to find the Eggbaby but can find no trace. However, Bruce realizes that the Eggbaby can be tracked by its digital cry, which can be scanned for by the Batmobile. Back at her hideout, Ma Mayhem celebrates her victory in getting the entire set of ruby jewelry, which was the first thing she and her husband stole. While she deals with her upset children, the Eggbaby starts to cry again. Batman is alerted to the Eggbaby's location and heads out to the hideout. He arrives just in time to watch Carl reluctantly drop the Eggbaby from a high window. Batman saves the Eggbaby, which makes it happy, and is subsequently attacked by the group. Ma Mayhem decides to opt for a speedy get away. Slipping the Eggbaby inside his backpack, Batman quickly gives chase while the Eggbaby enjoys the ride. caught.]] After a brief, yet intense time of being dragged by the family's truck, Batman manages to stop them and forces them to land on a building. After setting up a smokescreen Batman manages to get Slim to attack Carl, thereby knocking him out, then knocks out Slim himself. All that's left is Ma Mayhem and she proves to be a much stronger opponent as she pummels him with her purse. However, he manages to cut the straps on her bag - which contains her loot - causing it to fall off the roof of the building. Ma Mayhem desperately jumps after the bag and manages to catch it as Batman catches her with a cable, but the upside-down bag opens and drops all of its contents to the street. With his mission complete, Terry returns to his Family Studies class and is shocked to receive the top grade. As Miss Pinto explains, the other couples performed adequately at feeding and nurturing their babies, but Terry's was the only one whose mind was fully stimulated—i.e., his baby had the most fun. She calls Terry "ideal father material." Terry's happy at first, but when Dana and several other girls look at him happily he becomes a little embarrassed. Continuity * Miss Pinto calls out names of several one-episode classmates, including Jackie Wallace (from "Earth Mover"), Adam Stepnik (from "The Last Resort") and Corey Cavalieri (from "Sentries of the Last Cosmos"). Background information Home video releases * * Batman Beyond - The Complete Series (DVD) Production notes * The features a commentary by Bruce Timm, James Tucker, Andrea Romano, Glen Murakami, and Will Friedle. * According to the commentary, this was supposed to be the most childish episode the writers could think of. * Also stated in the commentary, the Mayhem family's flying car is modeled after a Chevrolet El Camino. Production inconsistencies * Despite Miss Pinto dividing the class into teams of two, several couples, including Nelson and Max and Jared and Chelsea, have received two eggbabies. * When Batman throws a Batarang to disarm Slim, it changes into a disc that he fires from his forearms. * When Batman ejects out of the Batmobile to regain his eggbaby, he is wearing his backpack. In the next shot, it's missing, but it reappears in the following shot. Trivia * From this episode on, the title screen and opening billing get a new font. * This episode won an Emmy Award. * This was the first episode James Tucker directed, after Curt Geda was engaged working on Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. * Bruce Timm said in the commentary that this was the only episode he worked on that he allowed his daughter to watch. * Bruce's comment about making slippers from rubies is a reference to the 1939 movie version of The Wizard of Oz, which had Dorothy, the protagonist, wearing ruby slippers. * This episode marks the final speaking appearance of Blade. Cast Uncredited appearances * Ace (dog) * Adam Stepnik * Chelsea Cunningham * Corey Cavalieri * Craig Foster * Frankie Lewis * Jackie Wallace * Jared Tate * John Kay * Jurgen Blaine * Mathilda Idis * Mason Forrest * Rachel Ang * Ruth Waites * Steven Tetsuo Quotes Category:A to Z Eggbaby Eggbaby, The Eggbaby, The Eggbaby, The Category:Episodes directed by James Tucker